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Honour attacks a ‘Muslim’ issue according to the Daily Mail

Monday, 05 December 2011 15:35

Over the weekend there was widespread coverage of statistics released showing that 2,823 honour attacks were recorded by the police in 2010.

The statistics, obtained by the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, came from 39 out of 52 police forces, and comparative statistics from 12 forces from 2009 showed an overall 47% rise on the previous year. The statistics, collated by police forces across the country, are not broken down by race, religion or ethnicity.

Nevertheless, the Daily Mail headlined its article on the story as ‘Alarming rise of Muslim 'honour attacks' in the UK as police reveal thousands were carried out last year’.

It affirms this false statement later on in the article where it defines honour attacks as “punishments usually carried out against Muslim women who have been accused of bringing shame on their family,” in the caption under a photo used to illustrate the story which features Muslim women in various forms of Islamic dress.

The Daily Mail, some way down in its coverage quotes a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police Service, who tells the paper that “Honour-based violence cuts across all cultures, nationalities and faith groups - it is a worldwide problem.”

Why then, when there is nothing in the statistics that would indicate that the recorded ‘honour’ attacks in 2010 involved mainly Muslim victims and the Met Police are clear that this type of gender based violence cuts across all cultures, nationalities and faith groups, would the DM choose to portray it otherwise?

Contrast this to other media outlets’ reporting on the issue. The BBC headlines with ‘'Honour' attack numbers revealed by UK police forces’. It defined honour attacks as “punishments on people, usually women, for acts deemed to have brought shame on their family.”

The Telegraph likewise covered the issue in a more balanced and factual manner, headlining with ‘Thousands of honour attacks in Britain last year’, and defining honour attacks as “punishments usually carried out on women who have been accused of bringing shame on their family.”

The DM, true to form, decides to publish an article with an anti-Muslim slant, just as last weekend’s reporting on ‘baby Jihad’.

You can take the matter up with the editor by writing to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or in with the Press Complaints Commission on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments

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Anjum Anwar

|2011-12-29 09:02:06

The fact that a single woman/child/man killed in this way is not acceptable - we have always known that certain media represents certain communities in negative light. However, the question has to be what is the Muslim Community doing about the situation? May be if the Muslim community itself became proactive about the non-acceptance of this truly horrific culture - we may not leave vacuum for others to comment.

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